Rich media, as used herein, refers to digital media that exhibits either, or a combination of, dynamic or interactive properties. Digital media that exhibits dynamic properties is referred to herein as “dynamic content”. For example, videos, music and animations exhibit dynamic properties. Therefore, “dynamic content” includes, but is not limited to, video content, audio content, and dynamic graphical content.
Digital media that exhibits interactive properties is referred to herein as “interactive graphical content.” For example, a dialog box with controls for receiving user input exhibits interactive properties. Therefore, “interactive graphical content” includes, but is not limited to, dialog boxes and interactive applications that are executed by a web browser.
Rich media data, when processed by a rich media application, is presented as rich media to a user. Rich media display applications, such as media players, cause rich media content to be presented through one of many possible rich media display interfaces. The rich media display interfaces used by the rich media display application may include, for example, independent floating window displays, or embedded displays that are shown within another interface. Rich media display applications include standalone applications and embedded web applications. Typically, web browsers execute programs that cause embedded web applications to be retrieved, loaded, and executed.
Popular content providers of rich media content include promotional websites, such as television network websites or movie studio websites that show video clips or audio content of promotional material. Typically, the rich media content is shown through a web-based rich media application that is embedded into one of the content provider's web pages. For example, a network television web site may expose users to an animation that promotes a particular TV show by embedding, within one of its web pages, (a) code for playing animations, and (b) rich media data for the animation that promotes the TV show. A user is led to a particular web page with rich media content by, for example, following a hyperlink from a different document that refers to the particular web page.
Rich media content that is provided by such promotional websites is often time-sensitive because the rich media content relates to a particular promotional schedule of a particular production. For example, a television network broadcasts episodes of a television show according to a television broadcast schedule. Because the television network website has different rich media content for different episodes, it is desirable for different rich media content to be made available by the television network at different times and dates, depending on the television broadcast schedule. Because of the frequent updating of such types of rich media content, it is desirable for a television network to have a user access a television show website repeatedly to view updated rich media content.
According to one approach for leading a user to view updated rich media content, a television network may send an email reminder to a list of subscribers who have subscribed to such reminders for the particular television show. The email reminder includes a hyperlink that refers to the content provider's web page that has the rich media content. By following the hyperlink, the user is led to view the updated rich media content.
In this approach, the user must click on the referencing hyperlink to access the rich media content from the content provider. Unless the user follows the referencing hyperlink, the user would not view the rich media content.
In a different approach, a user creates a recurring calendar event in the user's calendar that reminds the user to access the television show website to check for any new rich media content. Like the email reminder, the recurring calendar event that is created by the user may include a particular hyperlink that leads the user to the web page to view the content.
This approach shares the deficiency of the email-reminder approach because both approaches require the user to click on the referencing hyperlink to access the rich media content from the content provider. Furthermore, the recurring calendar event that is created by the user merely approximates the television broadcast schedule according to the user's estimations regarding when a content provider's website may be updated with new rich media content. If a user's estimations are incorrect, the user will either view previously-viewed rich media content, or miss an update of rich media content.
Approaches that avoid the deficiencies in the approaches herein discussed are desirable.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.